Gotz Happy Kidz Emilia...A New Custom!

Last week I bought a Gotz Happy Kidz Emilia because I both liked the sculpt and wanted to do some customising.  I got Emilia because she has an interesting face sculpt, not the prettiest of the Gotz Happy Doll sculpts but a face that I find I'm drawn to.  I liked her on arrival but always like to make my dolls 'my own' and she was no exception.

Emilia before:

I've always liked Gotz dolls as their quality is very good and they're great as play dolls, being made with very safe and well tested materials, and for adult doll collectors too.

Firstly I removed the factory makeup and the acrylic eyes.  The eyes were not bad quality but I prefer them to be more realistic so they had to go, along with the eyelashes.  Here she is with her cleaned face, but eyes and lashes still attached.  I felt these eyes were also a tad too large for her eye sockets too.

The hair on these dolls is rooted so I covered her head with an old shower cap to protect it from the chalk and the sealant.

The hardest part was getting her head off.  I had to soak it in boiled water until the vinyl was soft and then pull it off.  The eyes are seated in little 'pockets' inside her head but the back of these are open so you can easily remove the eyes through the neck hole.  Here she is will her default eyes and lashes now removed.

 

I then gave her a new faceup using watercolour pencils and artist grade chalk pastels.  I wanted her to have glass eyes but I found that the ones I have here (and I have quite a few pairs!!) did not suit her or were the wrong size.  In the end I decided that I would stick with acrylic, so these eyes are by Glastic Realistic, unfortunately I have no idea what the colour is called.   As acrylic eyes go, I think these are a great alternative to glass or resin eyes as they are very detailed and natural looking. 

Between layers of chalk pastels, Emilia is sealed with several coats of Mr Super Clear Flat sealant. 

I hope that I've bought her more 'to life' and less dolly looking.  I enjoyed working on her, customising really is one of my favourite parts of the doll hobby to be honest!

She's wearing an outfit that I made for my Zwergnase dolls, I thought the grey of the outfit went well with the grey of her eyes.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you're all having a very nice weekend.

Big hugs and stay safe!
Sharon xxxx
 

Some Gotz Girlies......

The weather has continued to be very unsettled here with very heavy rain and then bright sunshine....and then repeated all over again!  But I wanted to take some photos of my Gotz Hannahs and my Happy Kidz for the Gotz Facebook group so I managed to squeeze in some photo time between the rainfall!  I thought I'd share them on here too.....

Here is Hannah Summertime, she is a 2017 girl and comes wearing a flowery cotton dress with short puffed sleeves, as well as a white 'straw' sunhat, pink glittery sandals and heart shaped sunglasses....all very cute but not really that appropriate for heavy rain!  So Hannah immediately changed into this cute and colourful outfit that I bought recently on Ebay Germany, I'm sure you'll agree she looks very sweet and childlike in it, and it's certainly more than adequate for the weather!

I thought that Hannah looked a little pale so added a bit more blush to her chubby cheeks.  It's subtle but definitely makes a difference to her face :)

The rest of the girls wanted to join in, so here are a couple of group shots........

Left to right:  Charlotte (2016), Asian Hannah at the Ballet, Hannah Summertime (2017), Happy Kidz Emily (2016), Happy Kidz Sophie (2012) and Happy Kidz Emily (2015-rewigged):  Charlotte got caught by a sunbeam!!

I'm sorry that I've not got much else for you this week, so I'll just add here some photos that I took on one of my morning walks....hope you enjoy them!

A few signs of spring....

I'm not sure this is really a 'sign of spring' but liked the variegated leaves....

Looking west towards Malaga.....

And east towards Nerja......

And finally, south towards Africa!

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend and that the weather has improved where you are!
Have a great week ahead!

Big hugs, Sharon x

Winter warmers..

I've not been up to much recently but did get a few of my dolls into winter clothes, although to be honest, the weather is still quite warm and I felt guilty that they were dressed up in woolly hats whilst it was 26C and I was walking around in short sleeves.  Yes, I admit it, I'm completely nuts thinking that they mind what they're actually wearing ;)

Unfortunately all photos were taken inside....I know, I know, I'm a wimp but there were too many people about for me to be seen with a bunch of dolls!!!

So my four Gotz girls were changed into warmer clothing first.  Here is Asian Hannah at the Ballet, wearing an outfit I made a couple of years ago.  She is also wearing a woolly hat that I found in a toy shop here, plus boots from Primark which are made for babies of 0-3  months!  What a find, bearing in mind the price of doll footwear, these ones, made for human babies were only 5 euros a pair!!

A close up of her sweet little face:

Next Happy Kidz Charlotte from 2016, who is also wearing an outfit that I made some time ago.  She is also wearing the same type of baby boots from Primark.  Her dress is made from a child's hoodie which I bought and unpicked to use the fabric.  I love this fabric, as well as being pretty, it's a lovely weight of knit fabric to work with.

Although the Emily sculpt is my favourite of the Happy Kidz sculpts, I really do like Charlotte too, she has grown on me a lot since she's been here:

My rewigged Emily from 2015 is wearing a knitted dress from My Doll Best Friend, I love this dress and wish they did it in other colours, but the deep pink and turquoise works so well on her.  Her boots are doll ones and she is wearing Gotz leg warmers over her tights.

 

 My sweet little wigged Emily in close up:

Next we have Sophie, a beautiful brown eyed redhead from 2012.  She is wearing a skirt and sweatshirt that I made earlier this year.  Her brightly coloured owl hat was a gift from a dear dolly friend in the US a couple of years ago, I thought it went perfectly with her outfit!!

 And a close up of her owl hat, and very pretty face :)

Finally of the Gotz girls we have my new 'replacement' blond Emily from 2016.  She came here in August but what with the wedding and everything else, I never got the chance to photograph her until now!  I'm really pleased to have a blond Happy Kidz again, I really should learn my lesson from this and keep the scissors away from them!! ;)

She's wearing another outfit that I made previously, I loved this on the original (now wigged brunette) Emily so new Emily gets to wear it:

And a close up to see her sweet face, she is almost exactly the same except she has a side parting whereas original Emily's was middle parting if I remember rightly!

OK, so five down......quite a few more to go though!  I hope you've enjoyed this brief post of a few of my girls.  I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a great week ahead.  I will be off to the UK on Wednesday to help celebrate my mum's 80th birthday.....I'm away for a week and hope to take a doll with me, but at this moment in time, I can't decide who to take!!!!  All suggestions welcome.

Big hugs Sharon xx

The Wichtel toddlers enjoy the summer heat...

The three little Wichtels by Rosemarie Muller, are enjoying their summertime.  The weather has been incredibly hot...just as I like it really, it could be summertime all year for me :)   They begged me to get their paddling pool out so yesterday, as it was extremely hot, high 30s centigrade, I obliged.  I set the pool up in the shade of our pergola because I didn't want their delicate baby skin burned ;)  Please excuse their nakedness....they are only tiny after all :)

Neele and Benny got straight in once the paddling pool was filled.  Both wore their armbands as none of them have yet learned to swim.  Christie was a little reluctant to join them at first.  This is actually an 'action' shot....just as Neele decided to fall face first into the water!!!

Fortunately, after her fall, her hair dried very quickly...phew!!! (Being the original Muller doll and more expensive than the other two, it was typical that she fall face first into the water!)

No harm done!  And was soon up and ready to play once again.....

Christie is still a little hesitant but felt a bit more secure once she had her rubber ring....

Once in the water, Christie was keen to join the other two in a game, using their inflatable ball...

Charlotte (Gotz Happy Kidz) is keeping a careful watch on the three of them, after all we don't want any accidents!

Seeing how hesitant Christie still is, she reassures her that she'll be safe with her rubber ring...

 Poor Christie, she's still not sure!!!!  

Benny is proving to be a proper little water baby!  He wanted to remove his armbands but Charlotte insists that he's better off with them on...just in case!

"But I'm like a fish!" he tries to tell her!!

"Come on little fish" she says "it's time for you to have some lunch!"  

The kids get themselves dried so that they can come inside and eat their lunch.  The pool will still be there afterwards kids!!  

Now that they're actually out of the pool and dried, Christie gets upset and wants to 'swim'......kids!  Who'd have 'em eh? ;) 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my little Wichtels enjoying their summer!  We hope you're enjoying good weather too!

Dolls are:  Neele (blond plaited bunches) is an original OOAK by Rosemarie Wichtel, Christie (brunette girl) is Crystal and Benny (strawberry blond boy) are both by Rosemarie Wichtel for Schildkrot, Germany.

Charlotte is Happy Kidz Charlotte by Gotz, 2016.